Flow to automatically append date to filename in sharepoint whenever someone creates a new file or modifies ?

[yashag2255]

Hi @Nreddy 

Can you share more details? There is no direct action to rename a file in SharePoint

You can always follow the below steps: 

1. Trigger: When a file is created in a folder

2. Split file name on - and check if the first part includes todays date. if yes do nothing. If no, 

3. Get file content

4. Create a new file (In the name of this file, add utcnow(dd-MM-yyyy)-filename.extension)

5. Delete the original file. 

Hope this helps!

If this reply has answered your question or solved your issue, please mark this question as answered. Answered questions helps users in the future who may have the same issue or question quickly find a resolution via search. If you liked my response, please consider giving it a thumbs up. THANKS!

[Nreddy]

Hi Yash,

Thank you for your prompt reply! The trigger is whenever a user adds new file in a document library or modifies I want the file name to be appended with date. I will follow your instructions and let you know if it worked out for me.
Once again thank you 🙂
Nreddy

[Nreddy]

Hi Yash,
If you dont mind would it be possible to send me screenshots of how to accomplish this? I am amateur to flows actually. Your help is very much appreciated please.
Thank you in advance!
Nreddy

[yashag2255]

Hi @Nreddy 

You can set up something as shown in the image below: 

Expressions: 

Condition Left: first(split(triggerOutputs()['headers']['x-ms-file-name-encoded'],'_'))
Condition Right: utcNow('dd-MM-yyyy')
File Name: utcNow('dd-MM-yyyy')

 Remember to add the '_' in the file name for this to work. 

The file identifier in the delete file action comes from the output of the trigger action. 

Hope this Helps!

If this reply has answered your question or solved your issue, please mark this question as answered. Answered questions helps users in the future who may have the same issue or question quickly find a resolution via search. If you liked my response, please consider giving it a thumbs up. THANKS!

[Nreddy]

Hi Yash,
I tried the steps mentioned and I was able to see that when I add a file date is getting appended to the file name. But I dont want the date to get appended to the file which was already appended with date and if it did not get modified. See the screenshot please. I see that everytime I add new file to the folder, date is getting appended to all the files causing the files to have multiple dates. Also If I modify the existing file I want the previous date to be placed by current data of modification.
Hope I did not confuse and conveyed my message right.
I appreciate you help alot , thank you 🙂

[yashag2255]

Hi @Nreddy 

Can you share a screenshot of your flow? I tested the flow shared and it worked fine for all the scenarios. Also, if the file is modified the same day more than once, it shouldn't really matter as the current day date is already appended to it. 

Hope this Helps!

If this reply has answered your question or solved your issue, please mark this question as answered. Answered questions helps users in the future who may have the same issue or question quickly find a resolution via search. If you liked my response, please consider giving it a thumbs up. THANKS!

[neethika]

[neethika]

The expressions I used in flow are:

left :first(split(triggerOutputs()['headers']['x-ms-file-name-encoded'],'_'))

right :utcNow('dd-MM-yyyy')

file name: utcNow('dd-MM-yyyy')

Thank you,

Nreddy

[efialttes]

@neethika @Nreddy 

There is a crucial difference between @yashag2255 suggestion and your current flow implementation.

In your implementation, when building the new file name; original file name is stored first, then you add a '_' symbol, then current date.

@yashag2255 implementation in just the opposite

THis is the reason your condition will always fail

Hope this helps

[neethika]

Hi, I did change mine as per Yash's still I see the same thing happening. And for some reason even when I do not add any file or modify the date is appending multiple times. Not sure why thats happening.Please let me know where I am going wrong.

Really appreciate your time and help, thanks!

Nreddy

[efialttes]

Hi!

Well, the good news is that we found one issue, fixed it and.. we are closer to a happy ending... 😋

The bad news is that there is another issue to fix, and current behaviour is weird... 🤔

My first suggestion: please inspect the left and right side of your Condition and make sure no space character were added by mistake before or after any of the expressions.

If no character hidden,

My second suggestion: please review the expressions on your condition, so hopefuly there is a typo in any of them

If no typo found:

My third suggestion: add two dummy Compose action blocks before your condition, assign them both expressions inside, reexecute the flow and inspect their contents

first(split(triggerOutputs()['headers']['x-ms-file-name-encoded'],'_'))

utcNow('dd-MM-yyyy')

Thanx!

[efialttes]

@Nreddy @neethika 

I'm running some test on my side, it seems the old trick suggested is not valid anymore. Probably Microsoft Engineers changed the logic some time ago and we did not noticed ☹️

This is the content of

first(split(triggerOutputs()['headers']['x-ms-file-name-encoded'],'_'))

in my last execution:

MDctMDMtMjAyMF9GbG93LlBORw==

THere is probably a WDL function to decode it, but in the meantime I have inspected the whole triggerOutputs()['headers'] object structure and found a fast workaround:

{
  "Pragma": "no-cache",
  "Retry-After": "0",
  "x-ms-file-id": "%252fDocumentos%2bcompartidos%252f07-03-2020_Flow.PNG",
  "x-ms-file-name": "07-03-2020_Flow.PNG",
  "x-ms-file-path": "/Documentos compartidos/07-03-2020_Flow.PNG",
  "x-ms-file-name-encoded": "MDctMDMtMjAyMF9GbG93LlBORw==",
  "x-ms-file-path-encoded": "L0RvY3VtZW50b3MgY29tcGFydGlkb3MvMDctMDMtMjAyMF9GbG93LlBORw==",
  "x-ms-file-etag": "\"{C4F63058-AAF4-4C52-8DD4-087D9E3DF0AD},2\"",
  "x-ms-request-id": "e08a3c9f-c07d-b000-6ed8-3c92a7674c56;e08a3c9f-a081-b000-6ed8-3c169b44d2fb",
  "Strict-Transport-Security": "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains",
  "X-Content-Type-Options": "nosniff",
  "X-Frame-Options": "DENY",
  "Timing-Allow-Origin": "*",
  "x-ms-apihub-cached-response": "true",
  "Cache-Control": "no-store, no-cache",
  "Date": "Sat, 07 Mar 2020 19:38:03 GMT",
  "Location": "https://flow-apim-europe-001-westeurope-01.azure-apim.net/apim/blablabla",
  "Set-Cookie": "ARRAffinity=blebleble;Path=/;HttpOnly;Domain=sharepointonline-ne.azconn-ne.p.azurewebsites.net",
  "Content-Length": "13763",
  "Content-Disposition": "attachment",
  "Content-Type": "image/png",
  "Expires": "-1",
  "Last-Modified": "Sat, 07 Mar 2020 19:38:04 GMT"
}

So I would suggest to use this other fast dirty workaround expression in the left side of your Condition:

first(split(last(split(triggerOutputs()['headers']['x-ms-file-path'],'/')),'_'))

 Hope this helps

[neethika]

I updated the flow with the updated expression that you shared but I still see the date appending twice. But I see a warning which I attached. This could be causing date appending multiple times. Is there any solution for this? Thank you, Nreddy

[efialttes]

Hi!

My suggestion, try to upload a new file, see if issue persists.

If so,

1.-inspect Flow executions related to this new file uploaded. You will probably need to inspect the last two executions

2.-inspect the new file metadata columns on your SP library, by making Created and Modified properties visible on your SP view

Share the results

[efialttes]

Hi again!

I guess the warning comes from the fact you are using the 'When a file is created or modified in a folder' trigger.

If you use 'Whe a file is created' instead, I guess the warning should not be shown. But, not sure if this other trigger matches your requirements.

Hope this helps

[yashag2255 · Accepted solution]

Hi @neethika  @Nreddy 

You might want to try with the below configuration once: 

Here, I have added the get file metadata with path and used the display name in the expressions so that it works as expected. 

expressions: 

Condition Left: first(split(body('Get_file_metadata_using_path')?['DisplayName'],'_'))
COndition Right: utcNow('dd-MM-yyyy')

File Name: utcNow('dd-MM-yyyy')

Hope this Helps!

If this reply has answered your question or solved your issue, please mark this question as answered. Answered questions helps users in the future who may have the same issue or question quickly find a resolution via search. If you liked my response, please consider giving it a thumbs up. THANKS!

[v-litu-msft]

Hi @neethika,

Has your problem been solved by @yashag2255's advice?

The best approach is @yashag2255 provided, if the newly created file name has no date or file date in the modified file name not match today, create a new file by using filename today+filename.

If your problem has been solved, You could go ahead and mark the post as solved by clicking “Accept as Solution” so that this thread will be marked for other users to easily identify!

Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ Lin Tu

[neethika]

Hi Yash,

This configuration worked 🙂 Thank you so much for your time and response, greatly appreciate it!

I was able to append date to file name whenever someone add a file to document library. I will test all the uses cases now.

Best,

Nreddy

[neethika]

Hi,

I want to mark it as solved but I am unable to see any option to do that. I'' check again

Thanks,

Neethi